TRADITIONALLY footballers were hardly averse to a night on the tiles, only they weren't expected to lay them first.
The age of fitness tests and BMIs has resigned those days to the past but there is still ample free time to be filled for your average player, and there are only so many times you can watch a virtual Lionel Messi stick the ball between your legs on FIFA 13.
Marc McAusland spent his Thursday morning talking up St Mirren's prospects in the trip to face Hibernian, but his view is not restricted to an afternoon at Easter Road. The defender helped his side to reach the semi-finals of the Scottish Communities League Cup on Tuesday night, yet rose early the following morning in order to complete the final day of a tiling course. Organised through PFA Scotland, McAusland was joined by former St Mirren team-mate Hugh Murray and Falkirk's Sean Higgins. That will have allowed for plenty of good-natured ribbing, but McAusland felt confident enough to hone his skills by tiling for his little sister.
It can be simple to assume that footballers' interests pertain only to getting three points on a Saturday, so McAusland should be commended for using his day off to further his prospects outside of the game. Whether or not you would trust the 24-year-old to remodel your bathroom is another matter.
"Seven boys from different clubs were interested in it so we went along and did it; it was good to see how to do a new trade," said McAusland. "I think I'm going to do a bathroom fitting course after that and me and Graham Carey [the St Mirren midfielder] are looking into a cookery one. We are off every Wednesday and finish training at 2pm so we have so much free time and this helps us to fill space; my mate is a tiler and makes good money so this is something else that you've got under your belt."
In Leigh Griffiths, Hibs possess a player who has proven to be just as finicky to deal with as tiling to an uneven skirting board. The striker, signed on loan from Wolves, has scored nine goals so far this season and McAusland is quite aware of the threat he will pose.
"He is very tricky and can always pop up with a couple of goals," said the defender. "He has shown that earlier on this season and is somebody you have to take very seriously. Every player is different and you just have to try and match them; either physically or, if they are tricky, then you try and combat that another way."
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